A Soul of Determination
by FireCacodemon
Summary: Book 1: The Ruins - A child's curiosity meets no boundaries. While listening to the wildfire rumours of Mount Ebott, Li and Xing make their way up to the top of the mountain. When a root lifts up enough to trip Li, he falls down into the Underground, where monsters are waiting for him. K rating. May change depending on how I write the characters. AU - Info inside.
1. Mount Ebott

FireCacodemon: Welcome to a new story! A Undertale and Darker Than Black cross-over! *Squeals.* I'm currently addicted to Undertale and I still love Darker Than Black so...POOF!

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 **A Soul of Determination**

A Darker Than Black and Undertale Fan-Fiction

Written by FireCacodemon

Disclaimer: Darker Than Black belongs to Tensai Okamura

Undertale belongs to Toby Fox

Set before Heaven's Gate and Hell's Gate arrive on the world. Child Li!

Summary: A child's curiosity meets no boundaries. While listening to the wildfire rumours of Mount Ebott, Li and Xing make their way up to the top of the mountain. When a root lifts up enough to trip Li, he falls down into the Underground, where monsters are waiting for him.

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Chapter 1:

Mount Ebott

"Have you heard of the rumours of Mount Ebott?"

"Mount Ebott? What stories?"

"The stories that people have vanished when the climbed up the mountain, lovely ghost stories and many rumours go around that the mountain eats them." There was the sound of a child's giggle.

"Mountains don't eat people, have you been watching anime again?" Both children burst into giggles.

"Maybe not the mountain themselves...but trolls and other mountain people can."

"That's true but still...Hey Xing?"

"Yes Onii-chan?"

"We're going camping in the shade of Mount Ebott...right?"

"Yes."

The sound of a gentle breeze came over the two young children as they climbed up Mount Ebott, both wanting to prove that the rumours were fake. If anything happened then one of them would turn tail and return back to their parents. The older sibling was a young male at the age of 9, wearing a small white shirt with light blue jeans and black and white trainers. His name was Li, with short black hair and midnight eyes. Walking behind him was Xing. His beloved little sister, Li's parents always told him to protect her. Xing had bright blue orbs for eyes and short dark blue with a pink headband on. She wore a woolly jumper with stripes on with thick trousers on (because Li wouldn't let her come unless she was warm) with her white and pink trainers.

The two of them hiked up Mount Ebott with smiles on their faces. They were both glad that the stories that spread like wildfire in their school didn't reach their parents. If they did, then they wouldn't be climbing up the mountain now. It wasn't long before the two had reached where fate was waiting patiently. A giant hole stretched as far as both Li and Xing could see.

"It's huge," Li said with the twinkle of interest in his eyes.

"Yeah," Xing smiled before she looked up at Li. "How deep do you think the hole goes?"

"Stay here, I'll go and check," Li said as he slipped himself free from Xing and slowly made his way over to the edge of the hole, he could see something coming into view...but failed to see the vine lifting up enough to catch his foot, to send him down into the Underground, where monsters were waiting.

"Onii-chan!"

"Xing!" Li screamed as he tumbled down into the hole below. His body felt numb and his vision went dark as he fell down, watching the sunlight get further and further away from him. He closed his eyes and fell into the darkness.

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FireCacodemon: Short but in my view, needed. Thank for you reading. Bye~


	2. Welcome to the Underground

FireCacodemon: Welcome back to another chapter of A Soul of Determination. My Darker Than Black and Undertale Cross-over.

Li: Darker Than Black belongs to Tensai Okamura.

FireCacodemon: Undertale belongs to Toby Fox. *Bark*

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Chapter 2:

Welcome to the Underground

A gently breeze stirred the young child awake. Li slowly opened his eyes to see a small hole of light above him. He didn't know how much time had passed since he fell down the giant hole and where he was now. There were white-stoned pillars reaching up tall on the walls. Li blinked twice before he slowly pushed himself up. It took him a while before it clicked that he wasn't feeling pain. Shooting his gaze down, he found small golden flowers which cushioned his fall. They must have been looked after well if they were strong enough to support his little body from harm. Li ran his fingers over the petals, feeling how soft they were brought a smile to his face. Standing up, Li walked off the yellow flowers he saw some grass with the flowers before he started to see if he could climb back up again. It didn't seem possible with the cave opening up after a few metres away from the hole at the top. It was impossible for Li to climb back up again.

"Xing!" Li cupped his mouth and shouted up. The echo bounced off the walls but he had a feeling that his voice wasn't going to be heard. It made his heart sink just a bit, he needed another way out. Looking around, he found a pathway leading away. One last time, he looked up at hole in the ceiling he turned to walk down the path leading deeper into the cave.

Walking down the path, Li's vision field was starting to vanish. There wasn't any sort of light apart from the hole of the light. Li was slowly dragging his feet along the stone floor to avoid falling into another possible hole in the mountain. Carefully, he moved his hand along the cold stone wall; he was probably cutting his fingers on jagged stones that he couldn't see. This continued on for a while before the jagged stones finished and transformed into smooth stone with ridges carved in. Li's foot quickly hit a wall, meaning that he had reached the end of the path. He stopped and turned to see if there was anything that could have given him some light...that's when he saw it. A single yellow petal flower with a beaming face in a patch of light, like a moth to a flame, Li made his way over to the flower.

"Howdy! I'm Flowey. Flowey the flower," the yellow flower spoke. Li froze on the spot. The flower had just spoken to him. It was starting to sound like a dream. Maybe he was dead? The flower was smiling up at him as if it was waiting for a response.

"I'm dreaming...Flowers don't talk." He said as he reached his arm and gave it a pinch. Wincing in pain, he realised that it wasn't a dream.

"You're a strange one," Flowey giggled softly, "but this isn't a dream. Hmm...You're new to the Underground, aren' tcha?" Flowey continued. Li simply just stood there, unsure on what he should do in a situation like this. Might as well answer Flowey's question, right?

"Erm...Yeah, first time in the...Underground?" Li scratched the back of his head awkwardly, he just felt awkward talking to a flower. But then it was weird to see a flower beaming up at him with an innocent smile and an innocent face.

"Golly, you must be so confused." Li just simple nodded. "Someone ought to teach you how things work around here! I guess little old me will have to do." Flowey spoke in a happy voice. Li nodded once more. "Ready? Here we go!"

Li felt something off. A new power formed within him and his chest started to give off a glow. Fear and confusion shot through his body. He didn't even know what was happening. He looked at Flowey in front of him before he looked quickly down at the glowing light on his chest. His eyes widened as a small orb emerged from the light from his chest, floating ahead of him before the ball morphed into a small red heart. Flowey's eyes lit up and the smile became bigger. Li simply looked at Flowey, confused and scared about what had happened.

"See that heart?" Flowey asked and watched Li's facial expression. Seeing the mixture of confusion and fear on his face made Flowey enjoy his part so much more. "That is your Soul, the very culmination of your being!" A thin white square appeared around the heart and then the square launched into the air, Li watched before returning back to Flowey. Whatever that was, it was out of the way now.

"What?" Li said, but was ignored.

"Your Soul starts off weak, but can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV." Flowey continued.

"Okay...? What does L V stand for?"

"What's LV stand for? That's a silly question. Why, LOVE, of course!" Li wasn't sure how to respond to that. He was pretty sure that he was loved by his family and to some degree, his friends at school. "You want some LOVE, don't you? Well, don't worry because I'll share some with you!" Flowey winked at Li and a small star flew off from the left eye. Flowey stuck its little tongue out too with the wink.

" _It winked too..._ " Li thought to himself as a picture of an emoticon appeared in his mind.

"Down here, LOVE is shared through little white... 'friendliness pellets.'" Flowey started to look a little shifty. Tiny white pellets appeared around Flowey and spun around innocently. "Are you ready?" Flowey looked back at Li with a smile.

"What for?" Li asked quickly.

"Move around and get as many as you can," Flowey smiled as the little white pellets came towards Li's heart. His parents had told him not to trust strangers and to avoid taking things. He quickly jumped out the way of the ' _friendliness pellets_ ' before they touched Li. He looked up to see that his heart had moved out of the way of the bullets, just like he had. "Hey buddy, you missed them." Flowey's face had changed from happy to unimpressed, a smile still on the face of the flower.

"My parents told me not to accept anything from strangers." Li told truthfully.

"Let's try again, okay?" Flowey spoke like Li didn't say anything at all. The pellets came straight towards him once more. Li jumped out the way once more. Flowey looked even more irritated. "Is this a joke? Are you braindead? RUN. INTO. THE. BULLETS!...friendliness pellets," Flowey said with the same smile back on its face. Li quickly ran out the way of the speeding pellets before a small root quickly tripped him up. Li landed roughly on the ground, feeling himself get more injured than before. Tears started to form in his eyes and quickly tried to force the tears back. He shot a glare at Flowey. The glare quickly vanished as a Flowey's face had turned from sweet and innocent into haunting and frightening. The eyes had tiny white pupils in which followed Li's actions and a twisted smile on its face. "YoU kNoW wHaT's GoInG oN hErE, dOn'T yOu?" Flowey's voice turned dark and twisted. The flower continued. "YoU jUsT wAnTeD tO SeE mE sUfFeR."

"I just didn't...Trust the pellets..." Li started before Flowey summoned a huge amount of pellets. Li wasn't sure if he could move without taking a pellet from any direction. Li was cornered and there wasn't anything he could do. Flowey was going to hurt him.

"DIE!" Flowey said before the pellets started coming their way towards Li. Flowey's laugh was just horrible, all twisted and just plain weird. Li felt the tears returning at the fear of getting hurt. He didn't dare look at the laughing flower whose face was extending out from the flower head with little to no eyes and huge sharp teeth. Li covered his eyes and waiting for the pellets to rip through his body.

Everything stopped.

"What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth." Li heard a new voice. A softer and gentler, reminding Li of his parents. It reminded Li on how his parents always soothed him down after a nasty nightmare of a nasty event which had happened. He slowly uncovered his hands away from his eyes and looked up at a white furred monster. She wore a purple robe with some sort of design on the front. Li took a step back away from the monster. He noticed her long ears and white horns on her head. "Ah, do not be afraid, my child. I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins."

"The...Ruins?" Li asked.

"Yes, this is where you are now, my child. I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down."

"There...have been others like me?" Li asked suddenly, she nodded.

"But you are the first human to come here in a long time. Come! I will guide you through the catacombs. This way," and with that, she started to walk off. Li looked up to see that his soul was still in the square. Once Toriel had walked away, the square vanished and his 'soul' returned back into his body. Feeling the warmth once more, Li slowly followed Toriel. Coming across a giant doorway with the same symbol etched into the stone above the exit but under the arch on top. Li continued to walk forward. Wondering what had happened to Flowey.

The room opened up to a brightly lit cave. The cave was a mixture of different shades of purple with lit purple flames. Li followed Toriel deeper until he noticed a light purple path leading forwards. Something he could only do now. Walking on the path, he found red leaves in the form of a square lying on the ground with a darker purple circle on. Looking like a dice, Li smiled and continued to follow Toriel. Just past the number 1 die face on the ground, he found a huge pile of leaves on the ground, just behind a yellow sparkling stone. He wasn't sure what it meant but by touching the stone, he felt a warm fuzzy feeling inside.

 _The shadow of the ruins looms above, filling you with determination._

Li wasn't sure what it meant but smiled to himself anyway. If this warm feeling was determination, then he was happy to have it in his soul. He saw Toriel watching him with a smile on his face as she climbed up the steps towards a doorway surrounded by green vines. A sigh was high above the doorway but Li was too short to be able to read it and felt silly asking Toriel to read it for him. Li followed her quickly so that he didn't get left behind.

Going through the doorway Li quickly saw Toriel who was waiting patiently for him. Li took a quick look around the room and noticed that there were six buttons on the ground, a lever behind them and a door directly behind Toriel. The door had the same markings as the doorway past where he entered the ruins. He looked around a bit more and his eyes fell onto a sign. He took a step forward.

"Welcome to your new home, innocent one. Allow me to educate you in the operation of the ruins." Toriel informed Li before she walked on the buttons in the shape of the square, leaving out the middle row of buttons completely. Li watched as she flicked the leaver and walked over to him.

"New home?" Li asked confused.

She nodded. "Yes, your new home will be the ruins, with me. The ruins are full of puzzles."

"Puzzles...?" She nodded.

"They are ancient fusions between diversions and doorkeys. One must solve them to move from room to room. Please adjust yourself to the sight of them." Li nodded as she left through the open doorway. Li looked over to the two last switches and happily walked over them. The puzzle was already done so there wasn't any reason why they couldn't be pressed...right? Jumping on the buttons, he smiled victoriously. He went over to the sign on the wall and looked at it.

 _Only the fearless may proceed. Brave ones, foolish ones. Both walk not the middle road._

"Wonder what that means...?" Li asked before he went after Toriel.

"To make Progress here, you will need to trigger several switches. Do not worry; I have labelled the ones that you need to flip." Toriel walked off to the right.

The room was like a huge rectangle with purple everywhere. A light purple path leads to where Li needed to go. In front of Li was a small brown sign, another sign was plastered on the purple stones. To the right, Li saw a small stream flowing under a wooden bridge. The green vines were on the walls once again. Li walked towards the sign.

"Hey, you can read signs?" Li read off the sign before he shook his head and walked over to the poster on the wall. "Stay on the path." He looked back at the light purple path and walked back over to it. He saw Toriel watching his every move with a friendly smile on her face. Li probably should hurry up and flick the switches that Toriel wanted him to flick or they weren't going to get anywhere. Walking over the bridge, Li went to complete the puzzle. Flicking the first switch, Li crossed another stream and noticed two leavers. One with arrows pointing to it and then a blank leaver, pulling the leaver, he looked at Toriel, waiting for approval.

"Splendid! I am proud of you, little one. Let us move to the next room." Toriel walked deeper into the ruins.

"What if I pulled the other leaver?" Li shuffled over to the other leaver and pulled. It wouldn't budge. "This switch doesn't even work...oh well," Li skipped off after Toriel.

The room felt like it was a corner of a puzzle. An entrance and exit to the left and upwards. He saw a stuffed training dummy happily minding its own business.

"As a human living in the Underground, monsters may attack you."

"Like Flowey did? When I fell down?"

"Like the flower did, yes. That is why you will need to be prepared for this situation."

"What do I need to do, Toriel?" Li looked between her and the dummy for guidance. He was going to get attacked more and more because he was a human? It happened in many films, when people entered other things territory; they were often attacked because they were different. Li was hoping that he wouldn't ever get into a situation like this...but then maybe he should have brushed off the stories about Mount Ebott and stopped Xing from wanting to go hiking up there too. Well, it was too late for that now. Wasn't it?

"You do not need to worry as the process is simple. When you encounter a monster, you will enter a fight. While you are in a fight, strike up a friendly conversation. Stall for time. I will come to resolve the conflict. Practise talking to the dummy." Toriel gave Li a gentle pat before she blocked the exit to the room. Li walked up to the dummy before his soul came out from his body once more and shot into the air, getting caught in the box once more above him. Li looked at the dummy. Li had the choice to fight with his stick; he could make an act, use an item or use...mercy? He didn't want to fight, unless he was protecting Xing from bullies or something. He had the choice to check the dummy based on an act. The dummy was just staring at him with button eyes. Li checked the dummy, walking around the dummy.

Check – Dummy – Attack 0, Defence 0

A cotton heart and a button eye. You are the apple of my eye.

"Hehe, that's pretty cool," Li giggled as the dummy stood around absentmindedly. Li couldn't fight a dummy that was minding its own business. Dummies couldn't talk so it was probably useless to talk to so he could either flee or spare, under the mercy of a human. Time had passed before the dummy just...floated away. The dummy had gotten tired of Li's aimless shenanigans so decided to leave. Li's soul once again returned back to his body. Li waved as the dummy left.

Mercy – Spare.

"Bye~" he giggled happily. He looked at Toriel to see her reaction. There was a mixed state of shock and confusion on her face. Wondering what had happened which had caused the dummy to float away. Li was only having fun with the dummy, it wasn't talking but it was amusing to watch anyway. Li felt like he did something wrong. It wasn't his fault that he didn't want to look silly talking to a dummy when they couldn't talk back.

"The next room awaits." And with that, she left. Li skipped after her happily, pleased with his actions with the dummy.

"What's in this room?" Li asked, starting to relax in the presence of Toriel. Li didn't feel as judged by her anymore and instead felt accepted. He wasn't sure what the other monsters were going to be like in this Underground but he couldn't wait to see them. This wasn't so bad after all. He still needed to find a way out of here and return back to his family but it didn't mean that he couldn't have a little fun of his own.

"There is another puzzle in this room. I wonder if you can solve it?" Toriel offered her hand for Li to take. Li looked at the light purple path before he decided to walk beside Toriel. They walked through the room before they entered a small corridor. Toriel went first before Li did but he followed shortly after. That was when something jumped in front of him. Li froze on the spot as his soul launched itself out of him. Sitting in front of him was a weird looking frog. Li went to check the strange monster.

Check – Froggit – Attack 4, Defence 5

Life is difficult for this enemy.

Toriel came over to the Froggit and gave it stare. Intimidating the Froggit and scaring it away. Li looked at Toriel and the battle had ended. They continued on their way. Li noticed another sign on the wall.

 _The western room is the eastern room's blueprint._

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FireCacodemon - Nagiiisa-san: I actually didn't know what your story was. I had a look after the review and they are very similar. Funny how minds can think alike, huh?

Li: Well, that's the only review we had but...our question is how you readers like the battle system in the story? If there could be anything that we could change or if we should just leave it as it is? Well, it doesn't have to be answered now so it doesn't matter as much now.

FireCacodemon: Thank you for reading, hope you're enjoying it and we'll be back for the next chapter. Review, fave, follow, do what pleases you. Take care readers. *Waves*


	3. Through the Ruins

FireCacodemon: Welcome back to another chapter of A Soul of Determination.

Li: Darker Than Black belongs to Tensai Okamura,

Toriel: Undertale belongs to Toby Fox.

FireCacodemon: Enjoy the next chapter.

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Chapter 3:

Through the Ruins

The two of them continued down the path before Li spotted a small wooden bridge leading towards a whole floor of spike traps. Li's eyes widened in surprise that this was even here. Toriel stood in front of the bridge and waited for Li to turn up behind her. Turning around, she smiled at Li as he looked up at her.

"This is the puzzle, but...Here, take my hand for a moment." She extended her hand towards Li. She hadn't given him any reason to not trust her but just looking at the spikes; he couldn't help but hold some fear. He gulped and reached for Toriel's fur covered hand. The fur was soft and warm which made holding her feel that much more pleasurable. She started to lead them through the spikes while watching Li. She already knew that path and had been through it countless times. Li was just glad that the spikes went down when they walked on them. He didn't dare look at the path that she took him through but he was hoping that he didn't have to go back through the room of spikes in. "Puzzles seem a little too dangerous for now." She quickly walked off without another word. Li looked back at the spikes and breathed a sigh of relief. Now that he was across, he could hear the gentle crash of the water falls into the water below.

"Yeah...just a little too dangerous..." Li chuckled to himself and followed Toriel into the next room.

The room had opened up with some vines growing on the bricks. Toriel stood tall in front of him like she had done many times before. The room was near enough empty, a light purple pattern on the ground with what looked to be a very tall, out of place pillar at the other end of the room. He wasn't sure what they were going to talk about here but he felt that it was going to be some sort of test for him to do.

"You have done excellently thus far, my child." She congratulated Li with the pleasant smile on her face, her two little fangs hunt out from her mouth.

"Thank you," Li smiled.

"However...I have a difficult request to ask of you."

"What is it?" He asked with curiosity in the atmosphere around himself.

"I would like you to walk to the end of the room by yourself. Forgive me for this." And with that, Toriel sprinted to the other end of the room. Li watched with slight confusion as she ran away. He watched her dive behind the pillar on the other end. Li shrugged as he started to walk down the long corridor. After one very long walk later, Toriel came out from behind the pillar.

"Hiya," Li waved.

"Greetings, my child. Do not worry, I did not leave you."

"I wasn't worried, I'm a brave boy." Toriel giggled at his remark. He sure was if he wasn't afraid of walking down the long corridor. "Why did you hide behind the pillar?"

"I was merely standing behind it to watch you."

"Well, okay, I trust you," Li had a smile on his face, the smile that never faltered.

"Well, thank you for trusting me. However, there was an important reason for this exercise."

"Why?" Li loved throwing questions at her.

"To test your independence."

"Why?" He asked again.

"I must attend to some business, and you must stay alone for a while. Please remain here. It's dangerous to explore by yourself." She noticed how he looked a little worried about being left on his own if monsters were going to come and attack him because he was a human. "I have an idea. I will give you a CELL PHONE."

"Why did you say cell phone all...dramatic?" Li questioned Toriel once again. Toriel looked a little confused but smiled anyway. Children were so full of questions; this one seemed to be full of questions that she was going to answer when she could.

"That doesn't matter. If you have a need for anything, just call. Be good, alright?" And with that, Toriel handed him the phone and then left. Leaving Li to his own devices, he looked down at the dinosaur of a phone and started pressing some buttons. He quickly found where the games were and started to play snake. Watching how the small cube-shaped snake was moving around the screen and Li pressed the number keys which changed the direction of the snake. He played the game for a while before his phone started to ring. He wasn't even sure how much time had passed since he started playing. Li pressed the green phone button and held it up to his ear, since it cancelled out his game of snake.

"Hello?" Li asked super confused.

"Hello! This is TORIEL." Li mentally sighed as she said her name all dramatic like she did with the cell phone. He could only guess that it was going to be Toriel since that was the only monster who probably had the phone number. "My errands are taking longer than I thought they would. You must wait 5 more minutes. Thank you for being patient." Before Li could even respond, she hung the phone up again.

"She's very busy then...huh?" He asked himself and went back to his game of snake. The phone had saved/paused the game where he was before he was called. Smiling, he continued to play.

Another 5 minutes had passed and once again, his phone rang once more. He picked up the phone again and waited for Toriel's voice to come back. "Hello...This is TORIEL. I found what I was looking for. But before I could take it...A small, white puppy snatched it away."

"A small puppy? They're in the Ruins? I didn't think they were..."

"How odd. Do dogs even LIKE flour?"

"Flour?"

"Err, that is an unrelated question, of course. It will take a little longer. Please understand." Toriel hung up the phone. Li's mind buzzed away at the chance of seeing a normal puppy living in the Underground. He had always wanted a puppy of his own but his family were always busy and working so a puppy wouldn't be happy living at home with him and his family. He wasn't sure why a dog would go after flour but the thought that it leapt out, barked and then stole the flour with its tail wagging was a very funny thought. He knew that dogs were playful animals that demanded attention. Maybe the puppy wanted to play with Toriel and so took the flour for a game of chase? His phone buzzed to life once more.

"Hello?" Li asked. He heard heavy panting on the other end of the phone. He moved the phone away from his ear as the panting was very loud in his ears.

"Bark! Bark! Bark...Bark!" The phone erupted with barking from the puppy. Li burst out laughing, this was probably one of the funniest things he has heard in his life, a dog had a phone while running away from Toriel.

"Stop, please! Come back here with my CELL PHONE!" The conversation was cut short. Li struggled to control himself; he loved this whole scenario. Putting his phone away, he got up and went to see if he could find the puppy. Walking into the next room and his phone buzzed once more.

"Hello? Hello? This is TORIEL. My apologies. A strange dog kidnapped my phone. So if you called, I could not have helped you. However, I have recovered it. And you are still in that room, are you not? What a good child you are. There are a few puzzles ahead that I have yet to explain. It would be dangerous to try to solve them yourself. Be good, alright?" And with that, the conversation dropped once more. Li couldn't help but laugh once more.

A Soul of Determination – Chapter 3: Through the Ruins

The first thing that Li saw when he left the room were piles of red leaves on the ground, another exit was just north of the room near a little white Froggit. It was happily minding its own business so Li didn't pay too much attention to it. He walked over to the leaves and picked up one of the little red leaves and gently crinkled it.

 _Playfully crinkling through the leaves fills you with determination._

"Ribbit, ribbit. Excuse me, human." Li turned out to see that the Froggit was looking in his direction with a frown on its face. He blinked before he tilted his head in confusion. "I have some advice for you about battling monsters."

"Okay?"

"If you ACT a certain way or FIGHT until you almost defeat them...They might not want to battle you anymore. If a monster does not want to fight you, please...Use some MERCY, human. Ribbit." The Froggit hopped away from Li.

"So, it is possible to spare every monster I run into if I act a certain way? Cool," he smiled and left the leaf pile alone to go and see what was in the room, north of the whole room itself. The next room had a small pillar surrounded by a leaf trail in the shape of a box. Li walked up to the pillar and noticed that there was a bowl of sweets on top. There was the sound of running water on both sides of the room, he saw his reflection in the water and smiled. It was him...it was him on his own...he frowned. He walked over to the bowl and read a sign.

'Take one.' So he did. _You took a piece of candy._ Li looked at the candy and examined it.

"Monster Candy? Has a distinct, non-licorice flavour." He read out loud. Hovering above him was a 10+ sign.

Li knew that he needed to go and meet up with Toriel again, she knew the way to get him back home with his family and she was big and strong so she could defend him from any other monsters that may try and attack him. If she was still with him, then everything was going to be fine. He shrugged and continued following the path on the floor. Just at the entrance of the exit of the room, a Froggit hopped close! Li felt his soul leap out his body and once again, trapped in a box. The options appeared in front of him.

FIGHT – ACT – ITEM – MERCY

ACT – Froggit - *Check *Compliment *Threat He pressed the compliment button.

 _Froggit didn't understand what you said, but was flattered anyway._ Li watched as the Froggit blushed deeply and then made the small ribiit noise.

It didn't take long for the Froggit to hop towards Li, with a quick reaction, Li leapt out of the way as the Froggit jumped past him. He looked behind himself to see that the Froggit was watching him but it seemed reluctant to fight him. The options appeared in front of him again.

FIGHT – ACT – ITEM – MERCY

MERCY - *Spare *Flee Li pressed spare. The word spare was highlighted in yellow.

YOU WON!

You earned 0 XP and 2 gold.

The Froggit hopped towards him and handed him over 2 gold, after taking the gold, the Froggit hopped away once more. Leaving Li in a weird position as he wasn't sure what had just happened. He shrugged and put the gold in his pocket and carried on with his journey. The next room looked straight forward, just a room with two vents in the walls and some unstable looking floor. Li was going to have to step on it if he wanted to cross to the other side. The ruins were filled with puzzles and...magic? Yeah, magic, so there was a reason why he couldn't pass without stepping on the unstable floor. He walked...and stepped. A huge hole opened up beneath him and caused him to fall all the way down to the lower ground. He screamed as he fell down to the floor blow but landed in a huge pile of red leaves. These leaves were everywhere in the ruins so he was pretty much safe...he hoped.

"Hehe...I've fallen down a hole," he giggled to himself as he escaped the leaf pile that had waited for something or someone to fall through the floor. Looking ahead of him, he found two doors which probably lead back up to where he had fallen. Not sure which door to pick, he picked the door on the left. He walked...and then crawled through the doorway and came out one of the vents on the higher floor. Looking around, he saw the hole where he had fallen down from. The hole was closer to him...meaning that he had picked the wrong door. He knew that he needed to go back down again to get to the other side. At least he knew which door he needed to go through now. Li went back down the hole and into the leaf pile. Moving towards the right door, a Froggit hopped close, starting another battle once more.

FIGHT – ACT – ITEM – MERCY

MERCY - *Spare *Flee

"Huh?" He looked at the word *Spare in white. The other time he saw the word Spare, it was in yellow. Did this mean that he couldn't spare the Froggit until he did his action? He tried anyway, hitting spare. Nothing happened.

"Ribbit, ribbit." The Froggit leapt towards him, avoiding it again, the two were now on opposite sides of the battle. The Froggit looked confused, like it didn't seem to know why it's here in the first place. He thought back to what the other Froggit had told him, that if he acted a certain way then they might not want to fight him, allowing him to MERCY them and to spare them. He knew what he needed to do now.

FIGHT – ACT – ITEM – MERCY

ACT – Froggit - *Check *Compliment *Threat He pressed Compliment once more.

 _Froggit didn't understand what you said, but was flattered anyway._ Once again, the frog-like creature blushed and ribbited.

Instead of it hopping towards him like others had done in the past, a swarm of flies appeared in front of him and tried their best to hit him. Li once again, managed to avoid everything and then looked at the Froggit once more. It wanted to leave and Li was happy to let the little Froggit go.

FIGHT – ACT – ITEM – MERCY

MERCY - *Spare *Flee Spare was in yellow, pressing spare the Froggit smiled and hopped over to him. Giving him gold, the Froggit hopped away again.

YOU WON!

You earned 0 XP and 2 gold.

The battle ended and Li left the little room through the right door and arrived back up on the other side of the hole. He continued on his journey out of the ruins.

A Soul of Determination – Chapter 3: Through the Ruins

Li felt the phone spring to life in his pocket. Taking out the phone, he knew that Toriel was calling him but she was probably going to introduce herself like she did before.

"Hello?" Li asked as he pressed the green phone button.

"Hello? This is TORIEL. For no reason in particular...Which do you prefer? Cinnamon or butterscotch?"

"Tough choice but I prefer cinnamon."

"Oh, I see. Thank you very much!" And with that, the phone hung up. Li took a few steps only to receive another call from Toriel. Answering, he let her introduce herself before anything else happened. "Hello? This is TORIEL. You do not DISLIKE butterscotch, do you? I know what your preference is, but...Would you turn up your nose if you found it on your plate?"

"Nope, I like them both," Li said happily.

"Ah, I understand. Thank you for being patient, by the way." The phone was hung up by Toriel once more. Li put his phone away and walked up to the sign.

"Three out of four grey rocks recommend you push them." He read the sign out loud with confusion in his voice. The only explanation that he could make from that was that one of the rocks was actually going to be a monster and yell at him if he tried to push it. He was going to be careful and ask every rock if they were a monster so he didn't come off as being rude. His mother taught him manners and he was going to use them to everything that was alive. He noticed a small grey rock in the room with a row of spikes and a pressure pad near the rock. All he needed to do was to ask the rock if it was alive and then to push it onto the pressure pad. Walking over to the rock, he gently tapped on the rock, hearing nothing; he decided to push the heavy rock out of the way and onto the pressure pad. The spikes retracted into the ground and Li made his way forward. He stopped when a small crying, bug-like creature approached him meekly. A battle started.

FIGHT – ACT – ITEM – MERCY He pressed act.

ACT - *? - *Check *Console *Terrorize

Check – Whimsun – Attack 5, Defence 0

This monster is too sensitive to fight...

*sniff, sniff* The Whimsun sniffed and a swarm of moths and butterflies fluttered past Li, he froze as he didn't know what to do, letting the bugs fly past him, they didn't even bother to try and attack him. Li looked at the monster fluttering in front of him. He sniffed and wasn't sure how to react, it was starting to smell like a mixture of lavender and mothballs. The mothballs stank but the smell of lavender was rather pleasant. The options came back.

FIGHT – ACT – ITEM – MERCY Li hit the mercy button.

MERCY - *Spare *Flee He pressed spare since it was yellow. He watched as Whimsun very quickly fluttered away from him, thankful to be away from battle.

YOU WON!

You earned 0 XP and 0 gold.

* * *

FireCacodemon: Thank you for reading, leave a review, favourite or follow if you like.

Li: Bye. *waves*


	4. oh

FireCacodemon: Welcome back to another chapter of A Soul of Determination.

Li: Darker Than Black is owned by Tensai Okamura

Toriel: While Undertale is owned by someone named Toby Fox, my children.

FireCacodemon: Nothing much really to say apart from that. So...on with the chapter.

* * *

Chapter 4:

oh...

Li couldn't help but feel bad for the Whimsum who fled from him in tears, all he spared the little critter but...he still felt that he failed somehow. He walked into the next room he found another vent fixed into the wall and a pathway forward. The light purple had stopped and the small corridor opened up to a room full of cracked floors. He didn't have any idea on what he was going to do. He could call Toriel...but she was busy doing her chores. He took a blind step and walked onto the first part of the cracked floor. A hole opened up beneath him and swallowed him whole. Li tumbled down to another floor but landed on a pile of red leaves all soft and still bursting with life. He walked on the leaves before he noticed that the leaves weren't in what looked to be a path. Walking into the more open area he could only guess that he was now looking at the path that was needed to solve the puzzle upstairs and a sign hanging on the wall. Skipping towards it, he stood on his tiptoes to read the sign.

"Please don't step on the leaves," he read out loud and turned to face the leaves. He guessed that was the clue he needed in order to solve the puzzle if he didn't get it already. Having memorised the layout on the ground, he walked over to the vent and climbed through, he was going to solve the puzzle on the top floor and move on. Reaching the top floor, he made his way over to the cracked floor and began walking. Whimsun approached meekly.

FIGHT – ACT – ITEM – MERCY Li pressed the act button.

ACT - *Whimsun - *Check *Console *Terrorize

*Console, Li smiled at the small critter.

"H-" _Halfway through your first word, Whimsun bursts into tears and runs away._

YOU WON!

You earned 0 XP and 0 gold.

Li stood in the ruins. Words couldn't describe how he was feeling at this very moment. He had tried to console the little guy and he just burst into tears and fluttered away as quick as his little wings would carry him. He wasn't that scary...right? Or was it just because he was a human and they were all monsters? There must have been some history between humans and monsters that made that one little monster so terrified of him and the monsters so aggressive (if you could call it aggressive) towards him. All he had encountered at the moments were Froggits and Whimsuns, not exactly threatening monsters. He couldn't see the Whimsun anywhere...so he continued on with his journey through the ruins. Following the bottom path, he found a small patch of red leaves near a sign. With a small smirk on his face, he stepped on the leaves to read the sign.

Didn't you read the sign downstairs?

"I did and I'm ignoring it for this part," he laughed and continued following the path below. Once the puzzle was finished, he left the room to enter another room.

The room opened up to be a large rectangle shaped room with spikes over water, three grey rocks sitting on the floor while waiting to be pushed onto the three buttons near the spikes. Walking a little into the room, he was stopped as a Froggit and Whimsun drew near!

FIGHT – ACT – ITEM – MERCY

"Okay, if I compliment Froggit, I can spare Froggit and Whimsun's name is already in yellow...If I can just avoid the duo attack then they can be spared at the same time...sounds like a plan." He smiled to himself and pressed the act button.

ACT - *Froggit - *Check *Compliment *Threat Li pressed compliment.

 _Forggit didn't understand what you said, but was flattered anyway._

Li watched as the Froggit blushed deeply and gave a ribbit while Whimsun offered an apology to Li. He managed to avoid most of the butterfly attacks and only managed to get caught by a tiny fly; he took 2 damage from Froggit's attack.

"Right, Froggit seems reluctant to fight me so I can spare them."

MERCY - *Spare (in yellow) Li pressed the word.

YOU WON!

You earned 0 XP and 2 gold.

The two left and Li looked at the rocks, one of the pads or all of them were going to remove the spikes from the other side of the room. He was just going to work his way down from the top. Walking up to the top rock, a gentle tap to see if the rock was alive...not hearing anything, he gathered up all his strength to give the rock a good push. Pushing the rock onto the pad didn't bring the spikes down. So he moved onto the next rock. Repeating the same actions, he pushed the rock onto the button. Once again, nothing happened. The last rock was going to be pushed.

"WHOA there, pardner! Who said you could push me around?" The rock spoke to Li, he felt himself jumping out of his skin.

"I'm sorry, I thought you were a normal rock," Li tried to apologise but didn't feel like he was finding the right words. "I just...please move over to the pad over there..." Li pointed towards the pad.

"HMM? So you're ASKIN' me to move over?" Li nodded his head. "Okay, just for you, pumpkin."

"Pumpkin?" Li asked himself as he watched the rock shuffle slightly towards the pad. Li walked back over to the rock.

"HMM? You want me to move some more?" Again, Li nodded. "Alrighty, how's this?" He moved upwards slightly. "HMM? That was the wrong direction? Okay, think I got it." And with that, the rock moved onto the pad.

"Thank you," Li smiled and moved towards the spikes...to find them spring back up again. The rock had moved off the pad. Li stared at the spikes for a few seconds before he looked back at the rock.

"HMM? You wanted me to STAY there? You're giving me a real workout." And with that, the rock moved back onto the pad.

"Please stay there..." He said desperately but with a smile on his face.

"Aren't things easier when you just ask?" The rock replied to him.

"I'm sorry, I'll be more polite in future, I promise." Li quickly ran out the room before the rock decided to change its mind once again. Just before he managed to leave the room, he tripped into a line of jelly looking creatures.

FIGHT – ACT – ITEM – MERCY

Li wasn't sure what to do; they all bounced up and down in front of him. They didn't look threatening at all though...more fun than anything else.

ACT - ? A, ? B, ? C. ? A - *Check *Imitate *Flirt.

"These are some weird actions...but I should check them out first.

ACT – Check.

MOLDMAL – ATK 6 DEF 0

Stereotypical: Curvaceously attractive, but no brains...

Li waited for their attack. It wasn't long before three blobs came towards him, one swaying while the other two blobs exploded into smaller blobs. Catching Li off guard, his soul was hit by one of the white dots in the square above them. Li took another 2 damage, reducing his health down to 16/20. He wasn't keen on facing all three of them together just yet, but their names were in yellow so he could spare them now...or try and appease all three of them by doing something to them each turn. Appeasing them sounded like the better option. Since his check did say attractive, he was going to try a flirt with one and see what happens. It was his turn once more. They were burbling quietly so it didn't make much difference.

ACT – Moldmsal A - *Flirt

 _You wiggle your hips. Moldsmal wiggles back. What a meaningful conversation!_

They attacked again. Li wiggled to another Moldsmal and then they attacked, wiggle, dodge. Now that the same had happened to all three of them, he felt that sparing them now was going to do some good. The aroma of lime gelatine wafting through was only going to make Li more hungry than he already was.

MERCY - *Spare

YOU WON!

You earned 0 XP and 3 gold.

The next room was pretty straight forward; a twinkling star like there was at the leaf pile and the beginning of the ruins. Walking further into the room, he noticed some cheese on a small round table and a mouse hole. Going over to the cheese and examined it. It was pretty clear that the cheese had been there for a very long time, how he knew that? It was clearly stuck to the table...much to his displeasure. Probably more for the mouse though, there was a tiny black hole in the wall. Small enough for a mouse or a monster that size, carefully walking over towards the hole, he gently knocked on the bricks above the whole. It wasn't long before he heard a satisfying squeak from what sounded to be a mouse. Li left the mouse a long and walked over to the sparkling star on the ground.

 _Knowing the mouse might one day leave its hole and get the cheese...It fills you with determination._

A Soul of Determination – Chapter 4: oh...

Li stood in front of a white ghost monster; it reminded him of the pac-man ghosts but white and taller. As he approached the monster, the monster kept on repeating the letter 'z' over and over again like it was pretending to sleep. He wasn't sure what he should do, it was rather rude to force him to wake up just to move out of his way...but he really needed to find a way to leave the ruins and to make his way home, his family were probably looking for him, he didn't want them to worry about him when he was doing fine. He brought up his stat chart to see how he was doing.

Li

LV 1

HP 20/20

AT 0 (0) EXP: 0

DF 0 (0) Next: 10

WEAPON: Stick

ARMOR: Bandage

GOLD: 9

So Li was doing alright, he wasn't sure what good a stick and a bandage were going to do when the monsters get stronger as he hopefully progressed through the ruins, it wasn't like anything had changed so far, they were all pretty easy to handle and appease. He felt his phone in his pocket and brought it out; he looked at Toriel's contact and pressed to ring her. He could have done many things, such as say hello, ask her about herself, if he could call her "Mum" or just simply flirt with her. Well, flirting was out the question so he was going to use the call to ask her about herself. Pressing the call button, he put the mobile to his ear and listened to the dialling tone of the phone. He was glad when he heard her answer her phone.

"This is TORIEL."

"Hey Toriel, I was just wondering if I could know more about you?" Li responded to her voice.

"You want to know more about me? Well, I am afraid there is not much to say. I am just a silly little lady who worries too much!" She hung up the phone very quickly. Li sighed and put the phone away, looking back at the ghost, he decided to try and wake up the ghost and to ask him to move.

"zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...zzzzzzzzzzzzzz...zzzzzzzzzz... (are they gone yet) zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..." Li watched as the ghost kept repeating the letter Z while it was pretending to sleep...He shook his head and reached his hand out...Here comes ?.

FIGHT – ACT – ITEM – MERCY

ACT - *Check *Flirt *Threat *Cheer Li pressed the check option

NAPSTABLOOK – ATK 10 DEF 10

This monster doesn't seem to have a sense of humor...

"oh, i'm REAL funny," Napstablook told Li as strange squiggles fell down from his face and shot towards Li, he did his best to avoid them but he managed to corner himself like an idiot. Taking some damage, Li had lost 3 HP. It could have been worse and Li knew it. Now all he needed to do was to figure out what he could do to make Napstablook want to spare him, question was...what did he have to do? He wasn't going to threaten the little ghost, it was his fault that he was causing him to wake up...Guess he should cheer him on? He didn't wanna flirt with Napstablook as that just didn't sound right.

FIGHT – ACT – ITEM – MERCY

ACT - *Cheer Li looked up after pressing the option and gave Napstablook a patient smile.

"heh..."

Li waited for another attack but instead Napstablook just looked at Li with a sad smile on his face. He looked up at the box above him to see grey text inside it saying: REALLY NOT FEELIN UP TO IT RIGHT NOW. SORRY. This was a very strange battle. But Napstablook looks just a little bit better than before; he went for another cheer again.

FIGHT – ACT – ITEM – MERCY

ACT - *Cheer

"Hey, Napstablook?"

"huh...?"

"What's a ghost's favourite dessert? I-scream," Li told him with a happy smile on his face, after all, telling a joke makes everyone smile...most of the time.

"heh...heh..." More tears fell down Napstablooks face, squiggles like before which Li managed to avoid this time, and he knew what they did this time and so planned his movements carefully, enough to dodge them all well. He looked at Napstablook's face once more to see that cheering seemed to have improved his mood again. He knew that he was on the right track now.

FIGHT – ACT – ITEM – MERCY

ACT - *Cheer

Napstablook wanted to show Li something, stopping him before he could. Li watched Napstablook as his tears started to fall upwards towards the ceiling. "let me try..." Li continued to watch before a small white hat started to form on top of his head, Li's eyes widened in fascination over what he was just watching. "i call it "dapper blook"...do you like it..." Li didn't quite catch what he said as he looked at the hat on top of Napstablook's head. Napstablook was eagerly awaiting his response with a tiny smile on his face.

FIGHT – ACT – ITEM – MERCY

ACT - *Cheer

"oh gee..." And the battle was finished. "i usually come to the RUINS because there's nobody around...but today i met somebody nice...oh, i'm rambling again. i'll get out of your way." And with that, he faded away off the red leaf pile. Once Napstablook was gone, Li ran back to the sparkling star on the ground and touched it.

 _Knowing the mouse might one day leave its hole and get the cheese...It fills you with determination._

Passing the small red leaf pile on the floor, he was met with two options, he could keep going on the path that he was currently on and go straight forward or he could turn left and head into a new path. The light purple path was ahead of him while the other path looked to be a new and interesting room of the ruins. Letting curiosity get the better of him, he headed to his left and through the new doorway. He found himself looking at a long corridor to his right, a sign was at the top of the light purple path, walking over he read the sign.

"Did you miss it? Spider Bake sale down and to the right. Come eat food made by spiders, for spiders, of spiders!" Li knew where he needed to go now, this spider bake sale sounded like a good idea. His stomach growled in agreement. He was getting hungry, all this fighting and dodging...now he was feeling his hunger claw at him. Food didn't sound like a bad idea. Following the sign's instructions, he walked down into the previous room and then to the right. The room was small with a sign standing in the middle with two spider webs behind. One small one and one large web. The sign wasn't kidding when it came to the spider bake sale, the spiders were soon watching him wondering if he was going to pay them something or just leave. He walked over to the sign to check it first, see if there was any information he needed to know.

"Spider Bake Sale ALL proceeds go to real spiders." He frowned slightly. "How does that work exactly?" He asked the room, he didn't get a response back which didn't surprise him. He walked over to the larger web and had a look. Woven into the web was 18G, so if Li left 18G in the web, he was going to get something back? Li only had 9G so he couldn't afford it unless he went to find some monsters and then to work up enough for the 18G web. The smaller web was asking for 7G, that was something that Li could afford. Digging around in his pockets, pulling out 7G, he put it down in front of the web, feeling the spiders watching him for a second before counting the money, to make sure that he did put down 7G. Once they were satisfied, some spiders crawled down and gave him a donut. Now with 2G, he couldn't afford another one. He looked at the donut in his hand and further examined it.

"Spider Donut, a donut made with Spider Cider in the batter." He smiled and put it in his bag. Hovering above him was a +12. He already had a piece of monster candy that he took ages ago but that wouldn't have been enough to crave his hunger. He was going to have to find monsters if he wanted to make up the money for hopefully a full meal. Toriel was probably making him something but could he really hold out on that for much longer? His stomach had growled so he really needed food in him. He looked at the spiders watching him and smiled. "I'll come back with more money to donate to you." The spiders look pleased.

* * *

FireCacodemon: That wraps up another chapter of the story...and not getting very far in the game itself but oh well, I'm enjoying writing this and planning the alternative story to this as well. Bye readers, have a great day/night/whatever you're doing at this current time. I am aware that the battling has changed slightly from the last chapter but oh well, the way it's written may be different but the game battles are still the same.


	5. More MonstersMore Puzzles

FireCacodemon: Undertale belongs to Toby Fox, Darker Than Black belongs to Tensai Okamura.

* * *

Chapter 5:

More Monsters…More Puzzles

Leaving the Spider Bake sale behind, Li continued on his journey through the ruins. He passed a few Froggits that were happily croaking away to each other. Li didn't stop and chat, letting them continue with their conversation before one of them noticed him and croaked in his direction. Li stopped and turned around to see the two Froggits watching him, both with smiles on their faces.

"Ribbit ribbit, I've heard others say that there are currently four frogs in the room. But I can only see three frogs in the room," one of the Froggits informed Li. Li started looking around the room to see another Froggit sleeping next to the sign about the Spider Bake sale. He counted three Froggits and he couldn't see a fourth one. "This is troubling, to say at least…Ribbit."

'I guess a fourth one will turn up later?' Li thought to himself as he decided to carry on with his journey but the other Froggit stopped him.

"Ribbit, ribbit, I have heard you are quite merciful, for a human. Surely you know by now a monster wears a yellow name when you can spare it. What do you think of that?"

"I…dunno? It's bad but handy at the same time…" Li wasn't quite sure what answer the Froggit was looking for.

"Really? Then, I'll tell all of my friends to tell their friends' friends to never use yellow names. How about that?"

"Please…no more yellow names…It just seems strange…"

"OK, I will let them know not to use yellow names." The Froggit hopped away just before Li felt the phone vibrate in his pocket. He felt around in his pockets for the phone, feeling the vibration, Li pulled out the phone and answered it.

"Hello…?" Toriell's voice came through the speaker. "I just realised that it has been a while since I have cleaned up. I was not expecting to have company so soon. There are probably a lot of things lying about here and there."

"Can I pick them up? Help you tidy up the Ruins a bit?" Li asked.

"You can pick them up, but do not carry more than you need, okay my child?"

"Why?" Li asked.

"Someday you might see something you really like. You will want to leave room in your pockets for that."

"I guess that makes sense…Okay, I'll only carry what I need," Li squeaked excitedly.

"I'm glad to hear that, my child. I shall go now." The phone was hung up after that.

'Maybe yellow names on monsters might actually be a good thing…now that I think about it. It lets me know if I've pleased the monster enough to let me pass…' Li thought to himself. He had been able to spare monsters because he saw that their names had changed colour. He turned around and headed back towards the two Froggits that were talking. By now, both of them were standing idly next to each other, bobbing their large heads up and down. "Hey…Froggit..?"

"Ribbit, ribbit. How are you doing without yellow names?" The Froggit smiled slightly at Li. The young child shuffled awkwardly on his feet before he plucked up what courage he had and asked the question.

"Can…I have yellow names again?"

"Huh? It's rather inconvenient that you changed you mind like this."

"I know, I'm sorry…" Li apologised to the monster.

"I told everyone not to use yellow names, everyone threw theirs out."

'How do you throw out names?' Li thought to himself extremely confused. He didn't think it was even possible to throw a name out, especially if it was your own name.

"Well, last year it was fashionable to have pink names. I think everyone still has those in their closets somewhere…I'll ask everyone to look. But this is the last time!" The Froggit looked a little angry at Li for changing his mind.

"That's a promise, I won't ask to change name colours again."

"Ribbit ribbit, I'm happy to hear."

"Bye," Li waved to the Froggits before he decided to quickly leave them alone. He didn't want to make another Froggit angry because he changed his mind. The next room came into view.

There were six different dark purple patches on the ground with cracks in the middle. He knew that if he walked on the cracked ground, the floor would give way and he'll tumble down possible into the darkness forever. Li noticed that there were vines growing on the wall of the Ruins, something he had seen before but he was glad that there was something 'normal' in the Ruins. Then again, he was the weird one here. He was a human that fell down and awoke in this strange but wonderful land. Li noticed that there was a sign hanging on the wall. Walking over, Li wondered what it read.

"There is just one switch." He looked at the cracked floors and guessed that this was another puzzle. He hoped that there were patches of petals for him to land on. Li walked over to the closest cracked floor before a monster stood in his way.

Loox drew near. Loox was a small monster with a giant eye taking over most of the body with tiny horns sprouting from the body. A tiny mouth was under the giant eye with tiny claws from the side of the body. Loox has tiny feet as well. Li's choices appeared in front of him.

FIGHT – ACT – ITEM – MERCY Li pressed the act button.

ACT - *Loox - *Check *Pick On *Don't Pick On

CHECK

Loox – ATK 6 DEF 6

Don't pick on him.

Family name: Eyewalker

'Yeah, no kidding…' Li thought to himself as he looked at Loox.

"Please don't pick on me…" Loox begged Li before Loox summoned small rings which started to bounce around, trying to hit Li. Once the attack had finished, Loox gnashes its teeth. Li's choices appeared once more. He gently tapped on Act and then Don't pick on.

"Finally,somebody gets it," despite what Loox said, it repeated the same attack as before. The rings reappeared and started to bounce around once more. Li avoided as much as possible but one of the rings managed to tap Li. He winced in pain slightly but it was a simple sting, rather than anything else. He was sure that it was going to bruise slightly. Li looked at Loox to see that it was staring right through him. A little creepy but he moved over to the Mercy option and tapped it.

MERCY - *Spare *Flee

*Spare

YOU WON!

Li earnt 0 XP and 5 gold.

Now that Loox had been spared, Li walked over towards the closest cracked floor and walked over. As expected, the floor quickly gave out from under Li and he fell down towards the lower floor, he landed in a pile of red leaves, cushioning his fall.

"So glad that this was here~" Li felt the leaves before he noticed a green leaf. Looking around, he saw what appeared to be a vegetable growing from the ground. "Couldn't hurt to pull," Li got up on his feet and walked over to the vegetable and grasped at all the leaves and pulled up the vegetable.

"Hey!" Another battle had started up so soon. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Wha!"

Vegetoid came out of the earth!

A Soul of Determination – Chapter 5: More Monsters…More Puzzles

Li finally found the switch and pulled it down. A few Vegetoids had given Li a few small bites to eat, giving back his health. He spared them before he picked the *Devour option for the battle. They were talking vegetables and he was hungry. He climbed through the vent back onto the top floor. Now that the switch had been pulled, Li was free to travel to the next room.

"The far door is not an exit. It simply marks a rotation in perspective…Wonder what that means?" Li asked as he looked around the room, the room was shaped like a corner with three pillars standing tall. Each of them had a small switch sitting next to it. The switches were all assorted colours, one being a light blue, a nice green and a red like his soul heart. It wasn't hard to see to see that they were switches as there was a button on them. Li walked over to the 'exit' of the room before he felt a tiny hand grabbing him, pulling him into another battle.

Loox drew near. Li knew exactly what he needed to do and before long, Loox had left with a smile on its face and with Li having five more gold in his pocket. Li waved at the Loox and headed into the next room.

"Wonder why I'm not getting any exp…?" Li questioned as he entered the next room to find that it was mirrored to the room he was just in. The blue switch was now closer to him while the green switch was in the middle and the red switch was furthest away. In the previous room, the blue switch was the closest, then the green and then the red switch. "Hang on…the far door is not an exit. I think I get the sign now. So, there should be another sign around here somewhere…" Li ran off and scanned the walls before he found the sign. "If you can read this, press the blue switch. Which'll be the switch near closer to the door I came through." Swiftly, Li ran towards the blue switch and pressed the button. Shortly after, Li heard a clicking sound.

"Hey!" Li was soon grabbed by another Loox. It seemed that Loox and co. decided to pick on Li! Loox was accompanied by a Vegetoid and a Migosp. He didn't need to pick on Loox, have a Vegetoid prepare a meal for him and once Loox and Vegetoid could be spared, spare them and then spare Migosp. Migosp was only angry because he wasn't alone. As soon as the buttons came up, Li pressed Act. Once all three were satisfied, Li picked up eleven gold off the floor. The rest of the rooms were similar, a sign asking for a coloured switch to be switched before Li can travel into the next room. Once all three switches have been pressed in the different rooms, Li came to a long corridor.

The light purple path spread as far as it could with a little bump before continuing into another room. Li noticed that there was a large row of green vines stretching across the floor, looking like a barrier for the monsters from the Ruins not to cross. Li smiled and walked over and tried his best to jump over the vines and onto the solid ground past them. Apart from going forward, the path turned left where red leaves had scattered on the floor. He guessed that Toriel was over in that direction but his curiosity wanted him to continue on the path he was on at the moment. He just wanted to check out the room ahead of him rather than turning on a different path. Making his decision, he walked forward and jumped over more vines on the floor and into the next room. There was a door and a Froggit minding its own business.

"Hello Froggit."

"Ribbit, ribbit. Just between you and me…I saw Toriel come out of here just a little while ago. She was carrying some groceries. I didn't ask what they were for…We're all too intimidated to talk to her. Ribbit."

"Why? Toriel's nice," Li smiled.

"Ribbit, ribbit. Human, you don't know? Ribbit…" Li shook his head. "Ribbit, ribbit. Well, just be thankful. Ribbit."

"Well…alright then, bye." Li left the Froggit and walked into the door next to him.

Standing tall in front of him looked to be the rest of the Ruins, a large building reached as tall as it could with many windows but there were no lights on. He assumed that it was because no one was inside and rather running around in the ruins playing with each other or just relaxing on their own. Li couldn't see a way down to the building in front of him but he noticed a sparkle on the floor. He walked over and reached down to pick up a toy knife and placed it in his bag. He quickly ran back to where the path divided and headed towards the door he ignored before. Running through the new doorway, he noticed that there was a large black tree. He took a few steps forward before he heard Toriel's voice.

"Oh dear, that took longer than I thought it would." She was walking towards the tree with her phone in her furry paws.

"Toriel!" Li called and waved, drawing her attention from her phone.

"How did you get here, my child? Are you hurt?" Li found himself wrapped up in her arms while she gave him a quick hug before she picked him up and started checking him over.

"I'm fine," Li squeaked.

"There, there, I will heal you…I should not have left you alone for so long. It was irresponsible to try and surprise you like this."

"Surprise? What surprise?" Li asked excited.

"Err…" Toriel blushed before she smiled at Li. "Well, I suppose I cannot hide it any longer. Come, small one!" Toriel put Li back down and ran off into the building behind her. Li just smiled, she was so friendly. He walked over to the tree and examined it.

Every time this old tree grows any leaves, they fall right off.

"I feel sorry for you tree…" Li left the tree and walked forward. He noticed a star twinkling on the floor.

Seeing such a cute, tidy house in the RUINS gives you determination.


End file.
